Ottoman Empire/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby The red Ottoman Empire flag, with its crescent moon and star, is waving while a gong sounds. NARRATOR: From the people who brought you Athens and The Habsburgs comes a historical epic of gargantuan proportions: Ottoman Empire. The titles Athens and The Habsburgs appear against a black background. They fade out and are replaced by the title Ottoman Empire in larger lettering. As Turkish music plays, floating knives and talking ottoman furniture pieces appear on a palace balcony. OTTOMAN 1: Byzantium is mine, you faithless dog! The scene switches to a room inside the palace where there are more talking ottomans. One of them is upturned, as if dead, with a scimitar lying on the gound next to it. OTTOMAN 2: My beloved Roxelana! I shall avenge your death! A microphone dips into the top of the frame. NARRATOR: Romance, intrigue, furniture. This Fall… Tim walks in front of the furniture. The scene widens to reveal it is a movie production set. Moby wearing a beret is behind a movie camera directing the action. Another robot, Little Jimmy, holds up a microphone. TIM: Hold it. Hold it. Little Jimmy pulls the microphone away. Moby moves his head back from the movie camera and frowns at Tim. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Whatever, this is the last time I let you try to answer a letter. Tim sighs and reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I heard about the Ottoman Empire and I'm very interested in it. What did the Ottoman people do? From, Pinar TIM: Hi there, Pinar! Moby, standing next to Tim, removes his beret angrily. TIM: The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest empires in history. It was a Muslim kingdom, centered in what's now the nation of Turkey. The Ottomans dominated their region from the 14th century all the way up to World War I. A map shows the Ottoman Empire. With Turkey at the center, it covered part of Western Europe, northern portions of Africa, and parts of the Middle East. TIM: Through warfare, trade, and politics, their empire shaped the history of the Western world. Pop-up images show two swords crossed, a box being shipped somewhere, and a handshake. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The story begins at the end of the 13th century, in what's now Turkey. The area was controlled by the Byzantine Empire, which was actually the last remains of the Roman Empire. Like the rest of Europe, the Byzantines were Christian. An image shows a map of the Byzantine Empire. A pop-up image shows a religious cross. TIM: For centuries, their powerful army had stopped Muslim invaders from the East. But it had recently lost chunks of its territory to Turks, nomadic tribes from Asia. A Muslim warrior named Osman was king of one of these groups. Arrows representing Muslim invaders are shown shooting toward the map of the Byzantine Empire and glancing off. Then the map shows the former Byzantine territory falling to different Turkish tribes, and a pop-up image of Osman appears. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Osman and his successors overran Byzantine territory and conquered parts of Europe where he was known as Ottoman. Their tough, disciplined military seemed unbeatable at the time. Just the threat of battle was sometimes enough: local leaders would join the expanding empire, rather than fight it. A map shows the territory Osman conquered expanding quickly. Horses and riders are appear. Osman and his soldiers are headed to a fort. The fort raises a white surrender flag and lowers its gate to the warriors. TIM: After a few decades, the Byzantines were surrounded, pushed back into their walled capital, Constantinople. The map shows the Byzantine Empire squeezed into a very small area. Its capital, Constantinople, is surrounded by Ottoman territories. TIM: After a few decades, the Byzantines were surrounded, pushed back into their walled capital, Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottomans took the city, ending the Byzantine Empire for good. An animation shows the Ottomans winning the battle at the Constantinople fort. The Ottoman flag flies above it. TIM: Renamed Istanbul, it became the Ottoman capital. An animation shows a sign reading, Now Entering Constantinople. The name Constantinople is replaced with Istanbul. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Istanbul sat on the western edge of the Silk Road, the trade route connecting Asia with Europe. The map shows the Silk Road and trade routes in Europe and Asia. TIM: The Ottomans encouraged this trading culture, opening their capital to merchants from around the world. Collecting taxes on all that activity made the Turkish elites fabulously rich. An animation shows a colorful, busy market with silk and other goods being sold. TIM: Flush with power, the Ottoman sultans, or kings, claimed the religious title of caliph. An image shows an Ottoman king sitting on a gold chair. TIM: That meant they were the worldwide leaders of Islam. They wanted to succeed where earlier caliphs had failed and conquer the rest of Europe. A map of Europe and Asia shows a Christian cross shining over Europe and an Islamic crescent moon and star shining over the Ottoman Empire. The rays from the crescent moon extend farther and farther until they cover Europe as well. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, so they could spread Islam's influence. And, in the process, grow even richer and more powerful. The more land the empire acquired, the more it could collect in rent and taxes. An animation shows the Ottoman sultan receiving a wheelbarrow full of gold and jewels. The wheelbarrow is labeled, January Rent. The sultan smiles and admires a ruby ring. TIM: So it continued to expand with a combination of force and persuasion. Ottoman elites would marry into the ruling families. An image shows a rich Ottoman leader marrying the daughter of a local leader. The couple is smiling but the girl’s parents and brother and sister are not smiling. TIM: And local leaders were absorbed into the Ottoman system. What was once an independent kingdom would become a vassal state, sending taxes to Istanbul in exchange for protection. An animation shows the local leader waving his country's flag. The Ottoman leader who married his daughter takes the flag away and replaces it with the Ottoman flag. The local leader then waves the Ottoman flag. MOBY: Beep. TIM: For the average person in these newly-acquired states, life continued pretty much as before. Their local customs were respected, and most weren't forced to convert to Islam. An image shows a sweating, worried-looking monk. Two men ride by on horses without stopping. The priest stops sweating, takes a deep breath, and looks relieved. TIM: But there was one exception. The Ottomans drafted soldiers from among the children! They were converted to Islam, taught the Turkish language, and trained in military academies. Ottoman rulers considered this a tax on their Christian subjects. An image shows an Ottoman soldier taking a crying boy away from his crying mother. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Some parents hid their boys, or even scarred their faces so they wouldn't be taken! But others saw it as an opportunity for a better life. Many recruits were trained as elite soldiers, known as Janissaries. Though they were technically slaves, Janissaries were highly respected. As a group, they were feared, even by sultans, and some rose to great wealth and influence! An animation shows the crying local boy. He grows up into a strong Ottoman soldier. He is wearing Turkish clothes and holding a big rifle. Then an older Janissary is shown, dressed in expensive clothes while sitting on a fancy cushion getting a manicure. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The empire reached the height of its power in the 16th century under Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman expanded Ottoman territory and ushered in a golden age of arts and culture. An image shows Suleiman the Magnificent. TIM: The mosques built during his reign influenced architecture around the world. An image shows a grand mosque with many domes, towers, and arches. TIM: And decorative artists turned everything from dinner plates to government documents into masterpieces. An image shows an intricately designed plate and a page covered in detailed patterns and drawings. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, after Suleiman, the empire slowly lost its edge over western Europe. The sultans who followed him weren't as capable. An image shows Sultan Mustafa the Deranged. TIM: While in western Europe, a new age of science and exploration was beginning. An image shows Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of Vitruvian man, illustrating a man’s proportions with his arms and legs extended and framed by a square and a circle. Pop-up images show an array of other Renaissance inventions, including a spyglass, a compass, a pistol, lab instruments, and a newspaper with the headline, Printing Press Invented! TIM: A sea route to Asia was charted, letting European traders skip the Silk Road. The search for a shorter route led them to the riches of the New World. An image shows a map of Europe, Africa, and Asia with the Silk Road indicated. An animation then shows an ocean route from England, around the African coast, and then on to Asia. A ship is also shown sailing from England to the Americas. TIM: As the Western powers grew stronger, they slowly pushed the Ottomans out of Europe. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I mean, really slowly. The decline took hundreds of years. An animation shows the Ottoman Empire shrinking gradually. TIM: . Meanwhile, Europeans were going through a political awakening. They were tired of being clumped into huge empires run by faraway kings. Instead, they wanted to form states based on cultural ties, like language. An image shows a man on a street holding up a sign with the words Greeks Unite. Some people are looking at him. TIM: These nationalist movements rebelled against Ottoman rule throughout Eastern Europe. An animation shows Ottoman territories changing into new countries. A different flag appears on each country. TIM: Sensing weakness in the empire, rival powers fought for control over its territories. The competition eventually touched off World War I. An animation shows four leaders of the new countries pulling on a map that shows what's left of the Ottoman Empire. Each leader is trying to pull the map his way when it begins to tear. A big fire erupts up from the Ottoman area of the map and explodes in the room. MOBY: Beep. TIM: It was the first mechanized war, and the Ottomans had never industrialized. They had to buy equipment from other nations, and they lacked modern weapons. An animation shows a soldier on a charging horse. He has a rifle, a sword, and the Ottoman flag rising from his saddle. The horse charges and suddenly halts in front of a very large tank. The tank has a British flag on it. TIM: When they lost the war, most of their land was stripped away and broken up. Much of what we now call the Middle East formed out of this breakup. An animation shows the map of the Ottoman Empire shrinking. Middle Eastern countries appear. TIM: The final blow came in 1922, when the Turks themselves had a nationalist awakening. An army officer named Mustafa Kemal Ataturk led the movement. He ended the reign of Ottoman sultans and established the modern nation of Turkey. The red crescent moon and star flag raises up from the Ottoman area. A popup shows Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The remaining Ottoman Area stretches and is renamed Turkey. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it's a complex history. You can spend a whole lifetime studying it! Little Jimmy rushes back into the movie studio with another letter. LITTLE JIMMY: Beep. TIM: Another historical drama? LITTLE JIMMY: Beep. Little Jimmy puts on a beret and sits in the director's chair. He raises his arm. A film trailer starts. NARRATOR: From the people that brought you Agamemnon and The Romanovs, comes a new historical drama: Venetian Republic. The titles appear on screen as before, and fade into a shot of a room with Venetian blinds in the window. The blinds begin to speak with a bad Italian accent. VENETIAN BLINDS: First we take the Duchy of Naxos, and then, on to Crete. TIM: You know what? I think I'm going to read a book instead. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts